by Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

by Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

They already face an overcrowded field of competitors for the scripted-programming audience, with new entrants seeming to arrive on a daily basis. And now comes a well-funded challenge from Netflix, jumping into the fray with House of Cards - and landing right near the top.

Granted, it would have been more of a surprise had the show botched that landing. It has a terrific cast led by two superlative stars in Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. It's based on great source material, and directed (in its first two hours) by David Fincher, an Oscar nominee for The Social Network and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

And it practically reeks of money well-spent: Outside of a repeat of Planet Earth, this may be the most gorgeous piece of television you see all year.

Assuming, of course, you decide to see it, which for Netflix and the networks is the $100 million question. Whether this 13-episode miniseries - to be released Friday in one fell marathon-viewing swoop - is good enough to warrant a subscription to Netflix if you don't already have one is a decision only you can make, based on your own entertainment needs and economic realities. But if you're already on Netflix -- and if the first two hours made available for preview are a fair guide -- then this is the show to watch, and maybe rewatch when you're done.

Indeed, no American-made option this weekend can compare. Its only real competitors (outside, of course, of the Super Bowl) come from Britain: Downton Abbey on PBS, and the DVD release of the BBC's original House of Cards, which inspired this American remake.

Actually, if you've seen that first version, you may wonder if anyone can match Ian Richardson's wickedly funny performance as a magnificently vengeful British politician. Just anyone couldn't, but this House has Spacey, who effectively substitutes Southern charm for Richardson's British suavity while oozing the same witty malevolence.

Spacey stars as Majority Whip Francis Underwood, who has been promised the post of secretary of State in the newly elected president's administration. When the president goes back on that promise - thwarting Underwood's ambition and that of his equally power-mad wife (Wright) - Underwood embarks on a campaign of revenge.

His goal is to quietly and secretly destroy the president, without having any blood show on his hand. And as in the original, he explains his plans by turning to the camera and addressing us directly, a trick that has become a bit too well-worn over the TV years, but that, in Spacey's incredibly capable hands, still manages to work.

As he wages his campaign, Underwood gathers a growing team of allies, most of whom have no idea they're on the team. The humor in Cards - and it is mordantly amusing - stems from the way Underwood maneuvers people into thinking his ideas are theirs. And that includes a too-blatantly ambitious reporter, played by Kate Mara, who is Cards' only apparent weak link.

Pondering from a distance, you may wonder how Underwood could have amassed so much power without anyone learning to be wary of him, but those objections seldom matter when Spacey is on screen. At those moments, you truly believe he could get anyone to do anything - anyone except his wife, which is a testament to the steely strength of Wright's performance.

If you think network executives are nervous, imagine the actors who have to go up against that pair in the Emmys.